The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island

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Flossie and Freddie promised they would not, as they always did, and
then the camping family started back for their tents.

"What do you think of that cave, the boat's being taken and all that's
happened?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey in a whisper of her husband, as they
walked toward camp together.

"I don't know what to think," he said slowly.

"Do you suppose the gypsies could be in there?"

"Well, they might. But don't let the children know. They are having a
good time here and there's no need, as yet, to frighten them."

For the next few days there were happy times in Twin Camp. The children
went on many rides in the goat wagon and had other fun. Then, one
afternoon when they were all sitting near the tents waiting for Dinah to
get dinner, they saw a steamer heading toward the little dock.

"Oh, maybe it's company!" cried Flossie, clapping her hands.

And so it proved, for when the boat landed Mrs. Porter and her little
girl, Helen, got off.

"We came to see how you were," said Mrs. Porter. "Helen wanted a trip on
the water, so we came on the excursion boat. We're going back this
evening. How are you?"

"Very well, indeed," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "and glad to see you. Helen can
play with Flossie and Freddie."

"Did you see any of the gypsies, and did they have my talking doll?"
asked Helen as soon as she had taken off her hat in the tent and had
gone outside to play with the two small Bobbsey twins.

CHAPTER XV

THE DOLL'S DRESS

"Haven't you got your lost doll back yet?" asked Freddie, as he moved
over on a board, nailed between two trees, to make room for Helen to sit
down between him and Flossie.

"No, I haven't found Mollie," answered the little girl, who had come to
visit her friends. "I guess she's a gypsy by this time."

"Helen, are you sure a gypsy man took your doll?" asked Nan, who had
been sent out by her mother to see if the little ones were all right.

"Yes, I'm sure," answered Helen. "I left her in the yard; and, besides,
didn't Johnnie Marsh and me both see the gypsy man runnin' off with
her?"

"Well, maybe it did happen that way," said Nan. "But what makes you
think we might have seen that gypsy man here, Helen?"

"'Cause Johnnie Marsh said gypsies were camped on Blueberry Island."

"We haven't seen any yet," remarked Bert, who had come out to ask the
little girl visitor about some of his boy friends in Lakeport.

"Maybe they're hiding 'cause they've got Helen's doll," said Flossie.
"And maybe they're in the cave Freddie and I found."

"Did you find a cave?" asked Helen. "My mamma read me a story once about
a cave and a giant that lived in it. Did your cave have a giant inside?"

"It had a noise!" answered Flossie excitedly. "Me and Freddie heard it!
But we didn't go see what it was. Are you hungry, Helen?" she asked,
suddenly changing the subject.

"Yes, I am. I only had some cake and ice-cream on the boat."

"We're goin' to have ice-cream!" Freddie cried. "Sam chopped up the ice
this morning and I heard him turning the freezer. I wish dinner would
hurry up and be ready."

It was not long after this that fat Dinah rang the gong which told that
the meal was cooked, and soon they were all seated in the dining tent
making merry over it. Mrs. Porter told how Helen had been teasing, ever
since the Bobbseys had come to Blueberry Island, to be brought for a
visit.

"She says that maybe the gypsies who took her doll are here," went on
Mrs. Porter; "though I tell her she will never see Mollie again. But
Helen begged hard to come, and so--here we are."

"And we're very glad to see you," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Can't you stay
longer than just until this evening?"

"No, not this time, as we didn't bring any extra clothes with us. But
Helen might come later for a visit of a few days."

"Oh, yes, please let her come!" begged Flossie.

"We'll see," said Mrs. Porter. "Did you find Snap?" she asked Bert.

"No, we haven't heard anything of him. I was going to ask if you had,"
and he looked anxiously at Helen's mother.

"No, I haven't heard a word about your pet," answered Mrs. Porter,
"though I've asked all your boy friends, and so has Helen. Tommy Todd
and the others say they are keeping watch for Snap, and if they see him
they'll let you know. Has anything else happened since you've been
here?" she asked Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Nothing much," answered Nan's mother. "We have had a lovely time
camping, and----"

"Flossie's and my go-around bugs broke out of their box!" cried Freddie,
and then he begged his mother's pardon for interrupting her when she was
speaking. His mother smiled, excused him, and then she let him and
Flossie, in turn, tell about the missing bugs.

"Come on, we'll play hide-and-go-to-seek," proposed Flossie after
dinner, while her father and mother and Mrs. Porter were still sitting
about the table talking. "Do you and Nan want to play, Bert?" she asked
her older brother.

"No, Flossie," he answered with a smile. "I'm going to help Sam cut wood
for the campfire. We're going to have a marshmallow roast to-night."

"Oh, I just wish I could stay!" cried Helen. "I love roast
marshmallows!"

"We'll roast some when you come again," said Nan, who was going to do
some sewing, so she could not play with the smaller children just then.
Soon the game of hide-and-go-to-seek began.

Freddie said he would hide first, and let both girls hunt for him. He
thought he could hide so well that he could fool them both, and still
get "home safe" before they spied him.

So while Flossie and Helen "blinded" by hiding their faces in their arms
against a tree, Freddie stole quietly off to hide. He found a good place
behind a pile of brush-wood, and there he cuddled up in a little bunch
and waited, after calling "coop!", until he heard the two girls
searching for him.

By peeping through the brush Freddie could see Helen and his sister
looking all about for him--behind trees, down back of fallen logs, and
in clumps of ferns.

Then Freddie saw the girls go far enough away from "home," which was a
big oak tree, so that he thought he would have a chance to run in
"free."

This he did, and how surprised Flossie and Helen were when they saw him
dash out from the pile of brush-wood!

"I'll blind now and let you hide," said Freddie, though if the game was
played by the rules it would be his turn to hide again, as he had not
been caught.

So this time the little boy hid his head in his arms and began counting
up to a hundred by fives, and when he had called out loudly:
"Ninety-five--one hundred! Ready or not, I'm coming!" he opened his eyes
and began searching.

Freddie had to be more careful about going away from the "home" tree
than had the two little girls. Either one of them could have spied him
and have run to touch "home" before he did. But Freddie was all alone
hunting for his sister and Helen, and when he had his back turned one or
the other might run in ahead of him.

"But I'll find 'em," he told himself. "I'll spy 'em both and then it
will be my turn to hide again."

Meanwhile, Flossie and Helen were well hidden. Flossie had found two
logs lying on a pile of leaves, not far from the "home" tree, and she
had crawled down in between them pulling leaves over her. Only her nose
stuck out, so she could breathe, and no one could have seen her until
they were very close.

Helen had picked out a hollow stump in which to hide. It was deep enough
for her to get inside, and the bottom was covered with old leaves, so it
was soft and not very dirty. Helen had been given an old dress of
Flossie's to put on to play in, so she would not soil her own white one.

"I'm going to have a good place to hide," thought Helen, as she climbed
up on a pile of stones outside the old stump and jumped down inside,
crouching there.

Then she waited for Freddie to come to find her, and as there was a
crack in the stump, she could look out and see where he was. As soon as
he got far enough away from "home," Flossie, who was nearer the oak
tree, would run in free,--and then she would try to reach it.

Meanwhile she crouched in the hollow stump, trying not to laugh or cough
or sneeze, for if she did that Freddie would hear and know where she
was. Helen saw something white in the stump with her. At first she
thought it was a piece of paper, but when she picked it up she knew it
was cloth. And as she looked at it her eyes grew big with wonder.

Without stopping to think that she was playing the hide-and-go-to-seek
game Helen suddenly stood up in the hollow stump, her head and waist
showing above the edge like a Jack-in-the-box. In her hand she held the
white thing she had found.

Flossie, from her hiding place between the two logs, could look over and
see what Helen was doing. Seeing her standing up in plain sight Flossie,
in a loud whisper, called to her friend:

"Get down! Get down! Freddie will see you and then you'll be it! Get
down!"

"But look! Look at what I found! In the hollow stump!" answered Helen.
"Oh, I must show you!"

"No! Get down!" cried Flossie, pulling more leaves over herself. "Here
comes Freddie. He'll see you!"

The little boy was coming from the "home" tree. He caught sight of
Helen, and cried:

"Tit-tat, Helen! Tit-tat, Helen! I see her in the hollow stump!"

"I don't care if I am it," Helen answered. "Look what I found!"

"What is it?" asked Flossie, sitting up amid the leaves.

"It's the dress Mollie wore when the gypsy took her away!" exclaimed
Helen. "Oh, my doll must be somewhere on this island!" and holding the
white object high above her head she ran toward Flossie.

CHAPTER XVI

SNOOP IS MISSING

The children suddenly lost interest in the game of hide-and-go-to-seek.
Freddie thought no more of spying Flossie or Helen. Flossie no longer
cared about hiding down between the two logs, and Helen did not care
about anything but the white dress she was holding up as she scrambled
out of the hollow stump.

"It's my doll's dress!" she said over and over again. "It's my lost
doll's dress!"

"Are you sure?" asked Flossie, as she shook the leaves from her dress
and hair, and came over to her friend.

"Course I'm sure!" answered Helen. "Look, here's a place where I mended
the dress after Mollie tore it when she was playing with Grace Lavine's
dollie one day."

Mollie hadn't really torn her dress. Helen had done it herself lifting
her pet out of the doll carriage, but she liked to pretend the doll had
done it.

"Let's see the torn place," said Flossie, and Helen showed where a hole
had been sewed together.

"I 'member it," Helen went on, "'cause I sewed it crooked. I can sew
better now. It's my doll's dress all right."

"It's all wet," said Freddie, who, though a boy, was not too old to be
interested in dolls, though he did not play with them. "Maybe the
gypsies live around here," he went on, "and they washed your doll's
dress and hung it on the stump to dry."

"Maybe!" agreed Helen, who was ready to believe anything, now that she
had found something belonging to her doll.

"No gypsies live around here," said Flossie, "'cause we haven't seen
any. But maybe they live in the cave."

"The cave's far off," said Freddie. "But it's funny about that dress."

"I--I found it when I hid in the stump," explained the little visiting
girl. "First I thought it was a piece of paper, but as soon as I
touched it I knew it wasn't. Oh, now if I could only find Mollie!"

"Maybe she's in the stump, too," Freddie said. "If the gypsies washed
her dress they'd have to cover her up with leaves or bark so she
wouldn't get cold while her dress was drying."

"The gypsies didn't wash her dress," said Helen.

"How do you know?" asked Flossie.

"'Cause nobody washes dresses an' makes 'em all up in a heap an' puts
'em in a hollow stump," Helen went on. "You've got to hang a dress
straight on a line to make it dry."

"That's so," added Flossie. "You only roll a dress up the way this one
was rolled when you sprinkle it to iron, don't you, Helen?"

"Yep. Oh, I do wish I could find my Mollie!"

"Well, she must be somewhere around here if she isn't in the stump,"
insisted Freddie. "If the gypsies took off her dress they must have
dropped the doll. Let's look!"

This was what the two little girls wanted to do, so with Freddie to help
they began poking about with sticks in the leaves that were piled
around the stump. They searched for some time, but could find no trace
of the lost doll.

"We'd better go and tell my mamma and your mamma," said Flossie. "Maybe
they'll get a policeman and he'll find the gypsies and your dollie,
Helen."

"All right--come on!"

Out of breath, the children ran to the tents where Mrs. Porter was just
thinking about going in search of her little girl, as it was nearly time
for the steamboat to come back for them.

"Oh, I found Mollie's dress! I found Mollie's dress!" cried Helen,
waving it over her head.

"It was in a stump!" added Freddie.

"And it was all wet from bein' rained on, I guess," said Flossie, for
indeed the doll's dress was still damp, and very likely it had been out
in the rain. That stump would hold water for some time, like a big,
wooden pitcher.

Mrs. Porter was very much surprised to hear the news, and thought
perhaps her little girl was mistaken. But when she had looked carefully
at the dress, she knew it was one she herself had made for Helen when
that little girl was a baby.

"But how did it come on this island?" she asked.

"It must have been dropped by the gypsies," said Mr. Bobbsey. "In spite
of what they said to us some one of them must have picked up the doll
and carried her away for some little gypsy girl. And the gypsies must
have been on this island. Some of the blueberry pickers said they saw
them, but when I looked I could not find them. By that time they must
have gone away."

"And did they take my doll with them?" asked Helen.

"Well, I'm afraid they did," said Mr. Bobbsey. "If they wanted your pet
badly enough to take her away so boldly, as they did from the yard,
they'd probably keep her, once they had her safe. It isn't every day
they can get a talking doll, you know."

"I wish there was some way of getting Helen's doll back," said Mrs.
Porter. "She does nothing but wish for her every day. She has other
dolls----"

"But I liked Mollie best," Helen said. "I want her. If she only knew I
had her dress she might come to me," she added wistfully.

"She might, if she were a fairy doll," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as she patted
Helen on the head. "But we'll look as carefully as we can for your
little girl's pet, Mrs. Porter. If Mollie is on this island we'll find
her."

"And I'll leave this dress here," said Helen, "so you can put it on her
when you do find her. Then she won't take cold."

"I'll wash the dress and have Dinah iron it for you," promised Flossie.
"I can't iron very well."

"Thank you," said Helen. "Oh, I'm so glad I came here, for I found part
of Mollie, anyhow."

Helen and her mother left Blueberry Island, promising to come again some
day, and Flossie and Freddie said they would, in the meanwhile, look as
well as they could for the lost doll.

[Illustration: THEY TOASTED THE SOFT CANDIES OVER THE BLAZE

_The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island._ _Page 175_]

That night, in front of the tents, there was a marshmallow roast. The
Bobbsey children, with long sticks, toasted the soft candies over the
blaze, until the marshmallows puffed out like balloons and were colored
a pretty brown. Then they ate them.

Flossie and Freddie dropped about as many candies in the fire as they
toasted, but Bert and Nan at last showed the small twins how to do it,
and then Freddie toasted a marshmallow for his father and Flossie made
one nice and brown for her mother.

"I dropped mine in the dirt, after I cooked it," said Freddie to his
father, as he came running up with the hot candy, "but I guess you can
eat it."

"I'll try," laughed Mr. Bobbsey, and he brushed off all the dirt he
could, but had to chew the rest, for Freddie stood right in front of his
father, to make sure the marshmallow was eaten.

"Is it good?" asked the little boy.

"Fine!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "But I can't eat any more," he said quickly,
"because I might get indigestion."

"Then I'll eat 'em," said Freddie. "I'm not afraid of
id-idis-idisgestion."

It was jolly fun toasting candies at the campfire, but as everything
must come to an end some time, this did also, and the children went to
bed and the camp was quiet, except that now and then Whisker gave a
gentle "Baa-a-a-a!" from his resting place under a tree, and Snoop, the
black cat, purred in his sleep.

The next day it rained, so the twins could not go to look for the doll,
as they wanted to. They had to stay around the tents, though when the
shower slackened they were allowed to go out with their rubber coats and
boots on.

Toward night the sun came out, and they all went down to the dock to
meet the steamboat, for Mr. Bobbsey had gone over to the mainland after
dinner, to attend to some business at the lumber office, and was coming
back on the last boat.

It was after supper that Dinah, coming into the dining tent to clear
away the dishes, caused some excitement when she asked:

"Has any ob you all seen Snoop?"

"What? Is our cat gone?" asked Bert.

"Well, I hasn't seen 'im since Flossie an' Freddie was playin' hitch him
up like a hoss to a cigar box wagon," went on Dinah. "He come out to me
an' I gib 'im some milk, an' now, when I called 'im t' come an' git his
supper, he ain't heah!"

Flossie and Freddie looked at each other. So did Nan and Bert. Even Mr.
Bobbsey seemed surprised. But he said:

"Oh, I guess he just went off in the woods for a rest after Flossie and
Freddie mauled him when they were playing with him. Go call him, Bert."

So Bert went out in front of the tent and called: "Snoop! Snoop! Hi,
Snoop, where are you?"

But no Snoop answered. Then Flossie and Freddie called, and so did Nan,
while Sam went farther into the woods among the trees. But the big black
cat, that the children loved so dearly, was missing. Snoop did not come
to his supper that night.

CHAPTER XVII

FREDDIE IS CAUGHT

"Hark! Wasn't that Snoop?"

"Listen, everybody!"

Bert and Nan suddenly made these exclamations as they, with the rest of
the Bobbsey family, were sitting in the main tent after supper. The
lanterns had been lighted, the mosquito net drawn over the front door,
or flap of the tent, to keep out the bugs, and the camping family was
spending a quiet hour before going to bed.

Bert thought he heard, in the woods outside, a noise that sounded like
that made by the missing cat Snoop, and Nan, also, thought she heard the
same sound.

They all listened, Mr. Bobbsey looking up from his book, while Flossie
and Freddie ceased their play. Mrs. Bobbsey stopped her sewing.

"There it is again!" exclaimed Nan, as from the darkness outside the
tent there came a queer sound.

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "It doesn't sound like Snoop."

"Maybe it's Snap!" exclaimed Freddie. "He used to howl like that."

"It did sound a bit like a dog's howl," admitted Bert. "May I go out and
see what it is, Daddy?"

"I'll take a look," said Mr. Bobbsey. He stepped to the flap of the tent
and listened. The queer sound came again, and he went outside, while
Bert went near the tent opening to listen. He, as well as his father,
then heard another noise--that made by some one walking across the
ground, stepping on and breaking small sticks.

"Who's there?" suddenly called Mr. Bobbsey, exactly, as Bert said
afterward, like a soldier sentinel on guard. "Who's there?"

"It's me--Sam," was the answer. "I done heard some queer noise, Mr.
Bobbsey, an' Dinah said as how I'd better git up and see what it was."

"Oh, all right, Sam. We heard it too. Listen again."

Sam stood still, and Mr. Bobbsey remained quietly outside the big tent.
Sam and his wife lived in a smaller tent not far away, and they usually
went to bed early, so Sam had had to get up when the queer noise
sounded.

Suddenly it came again, and this time Bert, who had stuck his head out
between the flaps of the tent, called:

"There it is!"

"Who! Who! Who!" came the sound, and as Mr. Bobbsey heard it he gave a
laugh.

"Nothing but an owl," he said. "I should have known it at first, only I
couldn't hear well in the tent. You may go back to bed, Sam, it's only
an owl."

"Only an owl, Mr. Bobbsey! Yas, I reckon as how it is; but I don't like
t' heah it jest de same."

"You don't? Why not, Sam?"

"'Cause as how dey most always ginnerally bring bad luck. I don't like
de sound ob dat owl's singin' no how!"

"He wasn't singing, Sam!" laughed Bert, after he had called to the rest
of the family inside the tent and told them the cause of the noise.

"Ha! Am dat yo', Bert?" asked the colored man. "Well, maybe an owl don't
sing like a canary bird, but dey makes a moanful soun', an' I don't like
it. It means bad luck, dat's what it means! An' you all'd better git t'
bed!"

"Oh, I'm not afraid, Sam. We thought it was Snoop mewing, or Snap
howling, maybe. You didn't see anything of our lost dog, did you?"

"Not a smitch. An' I suah would like t' hab him back."

"Ask him if he or Dinah saw Snoop," called Flossie.

Bert asked the colored man this, but Sam had seen nothing of the pet cat
either.

"Oh, dear!" sighed Freddie. "Both our pets gone--Snap and Snoop! I wish
they'd come back."

"Maybe they will," said his mother kindly. "It's time for you to go to
bed now, and maybe the morning will bring good news. Snap or Snoop may
be back by that time."

"That's what we've been thinking about poor Snap for a long while,"
grumbled Nan.

"Well, I'm afraid Snap _is_ lost for good," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "He never
stayed away so long before. But Snoop may be back in the morning. He may
have just wandered off. It isn't the first time he has been away all
night."

"Only once or twice," said Bert, who came back to the book he was
reading. "And both times it was because he got shut by accident in
places where he couldn't get out."

"Maybe that's what's happened this time," suggested Nan. "We ought to
look around the island."

"We will--to-morrow," declared Bert.

"And look in the cave Flossie and I found," urged Freddie. "Maybe Snoop
is there."

"We'll look," promised his brother.

When Flossie and Freddie were taken to their cots by their mother,
Flossie, when she had finished her regular prayers, added:

"An' please don't let 'em take Whisker."

"What do you mean by that, Flossie?" asked her mother.

"I mean I was prayin' that they shouldn't take our goat," said the
little girl.

"I want to pray that, too!" cried Freddie, who had hopped into bed. "Why
didn't you tell me you were going to pray that, Flossie?"

"'Cause it just popped into my head. But you stay in bed, an' I'll pray
it for you," and she added: "Please, Freddie says the same thing!"

Then she covered herself up and almost before Mrs. Bobbsey had left the
sides of the cots both children were fast asleep.

"Poor little tykes!" said the mother softly. "They do miss their pets
so! I hope the cat and dog can be found, and Helen's doll, too. It's
strange that so many things are missing. I wonder who Flossie meant by
'they,' I must ask her."

And the next morning the little girl, when reminded of her petition the
night before and asked who she thought might take the goat, said:

"They is the gypsies, of course! They take everything! Blueberry Tom
said so. And I didn't want them to get Whisker too."

"Who in the world is Blueberry Tom?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

"He's the boy who was so hungry," explained Freddie. "He came to the
island to pick early blueberries only there wasn't any."

"Oh, now I remember," Mrs. Bobbsey said with a laugh. "Well, I don't
believe there are any gypsies on this island to take anything. Snoop
must have just wandered off."

"Then we'll find him!" exclaimed Nan.

During the next few days a search was made for the missing black cat.
The twins, sometimes riding in their goat wagon, and again going on
foot, went over a good part of the island, calling for Snoop. But he did
not answer. Sam, too, wandered about getting firewood, and also calling
for the lost pet. Mr. Bobbsey made inquiries of the boatmen and the man
who kept the soda-water stand, but none of them had seen the children's
pet.

Bert printed, with a lead pencil, paper signs, offering a reward for any
news of Snoop, and these were tacked up on trees about the island so the
blueberry pickers might see them. But though many read them, none had
seen Snoop, and, of course, Snap was missing before the Bobbseys came
to camp, so, naturally, he would not be on the island.

But in spite of the missing Snap and Snoop, the Bobbsey twins had lots
of fun in camp. During the day they played all sorts of games, went on
long walks with their father and mother, or for trips on the lake.
Sometimes they even rowed to other islands, not far from Blueberry
Island, and there ate their lunch.

The fishing was good, and Freddie and Bert often brought home a nice
mess for dinner or supper. Whisker, the big white goat, was a jolly pet.
He was as gentle as a dog and never seemed to get tired of pulling the
twins in the wagon, though the roads of the island were not as smooth as
those in Lakeport.

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